Teen Dad Series

Didn't Make It Part Three (Luke & Asher)

(continuation of last two parts)

The day that his baby boy would be going home was getting closer and closer. Luke didn't feel ready. His parents had made arrangements for him to stay with them for the first few weeks. He'd overheard them talking about how hard it would be for him to go back to their shared apartment now. He hadn't even thought about that. He was pretty sure there was still a pile of clothes thrown on the bedroom floor. She'd never picked them up. And she never would.

On multiple occasions, her mother voiced her desire to raise the baby boy. She'd offered a couple times to go ahead and start custody papers before they even needed to take him home. Luke had never responded. Sometimes he thought it was a good idea, other times he'd think of how she'd react to him giving up their son like that. He was torn. 

Departure Day finally came and it seemed like everyone was waiting with baited breath to see what Luke would decide. 

Luke stayed awake the night before, going back and forth on his decision. On one hand, the baby was the last part of her Luke really have and he didn't want to let that go. On the other, he didn't feel like he could be the right person to raise him.

Ashton was the first one to stop by that morning. He stormed in and stood in front of Luke with his arms crossed and a determined look on his face. "Okay, I'm pretty sure I know what decision you're going to make and I'm here to not let you do that."

Luke sighed. "How are you going to do that?"

Ashton walked over to the bed and lifted up the baby boy. "Before all of this happened, Zoey asked me for a favor. She said if something ever happened to her, I need to be there to stop you from making a terrible decision. She was talking exactly about this. Her parents don't need to raise him if you're still here. She wants you to raise him. She's always wanted that. She wants you to be there for this kid even if she's not."

Luke started to protest, but the look that Ashton was giving him was borderline insane and he kind of knew he didn't have much of an option at this point. So he outstretched his arms and let Ashton place the baby into them.

He was expecting a lot more weight, but this kid was tiny and weighed basically nothing. He stayed completely still in the unfamiliar arms of Luke, staring up at him with uncertainty. And then he seemed to realize exactly who this was and nuzzled closer to Luke. He was completely content being held by Luke. Even if Luke was as awkward as he was at that moment. Luke couldn't keep his eyes off of him thought. This was his kid. They had the same blue eyes and everything.

"I could get used to this." Luke mumbled, glancing up in time to Ashton looking smug. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything!" Ashton quickly said. "But if I had said anything, I'd say that you'd be a good dad with a lot of help. And there's plenty of people here that are willing to help you. So you should probably rethink that decision, okay?"

Luke stared down at the smaller version of himself and smiled a little. "Okay."